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__________________Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.
Everything is possible, but not everything is probable.
For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

... but its chances of attaining an altitude of 1,800 feet is nil (unless of course, the track goes over a high enough hill).

__________________As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.- Henry Louis Mencken - Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

There was an interview with a man that was using a jet pack to fly around and the interview said, " How will you get down if something goes wrong" and the flier said " I will rely on gravity"

__________________You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
Sri Ramakrishna
Even in the valley of the shadow of death two and two do not make six.
Leo Tolstoy

Yeah, if you're going to do that kind of thing on public lands, it helps to check in advance with the particular department that oversees the land for the American people. That and the FAA might want to know what's going on. Of course, the bureaucrats are part of the great spherist conspiracy.

Steam-powered is actually a good choice for a manned rocket that doesn't have to go very far. The most likely failure scenarios for a steam-powered rocket motor would occur while the water is being heated into steam and no one is in or near the rocket. A typical fuel and oxidizer rocket is more likely to fail at ignition when the passenger would be aboard.

I don't think it has been mentioned, but Eddie Braun recently jumped the Snake River Canyon is a steam-powered rocket based on the design Evel Knievel used:

Of course, Braun enlisted the help of qualified people including the son of the original designer of the Sky Cycle. They spent years preparing and made the stunt as safe as it could be while remaining faithful to duplicating Knievel's attempt.

So the guy has the Flat Earthers' money, didn't have to kill himself with his homemade contraption, and has plausible deniability because he was stopped by 'the man' (announcing you're going to perform a dangerous act you have no permission for on public land will do that)?

There are areas set aside by the FAA for civilian rocketry. Not sure if this was going to happen at one of them though.

For the most part, there aren't specific areas for civilian rocketry. Instead we request and are granted waivers for flights at our launch sites. The waivers generally allow us to launch up to a specified altitude during the time period of the event. Sometimes we call into the local ATC center to get a "window" to fly to a higher altitude. We don't launch when aircraft are spotted in the area and we avoid flying through clouds.

When we are granted a waiver, the FAA issues a NOTAM to warn pilots of our activities. Unfortunately, I think seeing a notice for an "Unmanned Rocket Launch" actually attracts some pilots wanting to see what's going on and we have to suspend our launches until the aircraft leaves the area.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that FAA distinguishes between manned and unmanned launches.

I believe the rocket discussed here would be a Class 2 rocket as defined by the FAA. If so, all he would need is the simple waiver as described above. Getting the waiver is not difficult.

If, however, his rocket produces enough Newton-Seconds of thrust to be a Class 3 rocket, he will have to submit some fairly extensive paperwork to the FAA. Our national organizations have worked with the FAA to streamline the process for hobbyists, but we don't deal with manned launches (and our members have to demonstrate their knowledge and skills before launching larger rockets).

Of course, he also needs permission of the landowners. Hobbyists often fly Class 2 and Class 3 rockets from areas controlled by the BLM. We have even had a group launch an amateur rocket into space from a launch site in Nevada. So, the BLM is not adverse to allowing rockets to be launched from the land they manage.

But, the BLM might be a little concerned about someone who hasn't shown that he has the skill or knowledge to build and fly a rocket safely (whether or not he plans to be inside it).

By now, Mike Hughes should have already proved that the Earth was flat.

That was according to his original plan, which had been to launch himself 1,800 feet high last Saturday in his homemade scrap-metal rocket over Amboy, Calif., an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert along historic Route 66.

From the sky, he would snap a picture to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of the Earth.

But a variety of roadblocks have forced him to push back his experiment, he claims.

__________________Look what I found! There's this whole web site full of skeptics that spun off from the James Randy Education Foundation!

But planes fly much higher than his rocket would. Why not take a picture from a plane window? Do they disbelieve in heavier-than-air-flight too? Do they think planes are just fancy Greyhound buses with scrolling scenery outside the plexiglass?

But planes fly much higher than his rocket would. Why not take a picture from a plane window? Do they disbelieve in heavier-than-air-flight too? Do they think planes are just fancy Greyhound buses with scrolling scenery outside the plexiglass?

Bolding mine

It really wouldn't surprise me, they think everything else is faked and CGI.

Amboy, California is only about 600 ft. above sea level. A flight to 1,800 ft. AGL would place him only 2,400 ft. above sea level. Sitting on my front porch, I'm already 2,000 feet higher than the apex of his projected flight. I would also ask how this flight is expected to acquire conclusive information not obtainable by other means, but I gather his intended audience doesn't really know how science works anyway.

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Location: Ponylandistan! Where the bacon grows on trees! Can it get any better than that? I submit it can not!

Posts: 30,469

Originally Posted by JayUtah

Amboy, California is only about 600 ft. above sea level. A flight to 1,800 ft. AGL would place him only 2,400 ft. above sea level. Sitting on my front porch, I'm already 2,000 feet higher than the apex of his projected flight. I would also ask how this flight is expected to acquire conclusive information not obtainable by other means, but I gather his intended audience doesn't really know how science works anyway.

What part of "FLAT Earth" don't you get? There's no such thing as mountains ether.

__________________"Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes...
Because then it won't really matter, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes."

Not that logic seems like this guys strong suit but wouldn't a hot air balloon go higher, be less expensive, be easier to get and work with, and less likely to result in death?

__________________"You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count." - WtP

Not that logic seems like this guys strong suit but wouldn't a hot air balloon go higher, be less expensive, be easier to get and work with, and less likely to result in death?

A video camera mounted on a rocket would also be a lot easier and cheaper to manage than a rocket that can get a human to and from space. I think this guy is either a thrill-seeker financing his daredevil ways by playing lip-service to the Flat Earth mythology, or he's actively trying to milk Flat-Earthers for donations is a rather cynical con.

__________________Look what I found! There's this whole web site full of skeptics that spun off from the James Randy Education Foundation!

A video camera mounted on a rocket would also be a lot easier and cheaper to manage than a rocket that can get a human to and from space. I think this guy is either a thrill-seeker financing his daredevil ways by playing lip-service to the Flat Earth mythology, or he's actively trying to milk Flat-Earthers for donations is a rather cynical con.

Pretty much is it.
He says as much in the 3 Dec update YouTube video I posted up thread.

He holds a Guinness record for the longest/highest rail launched jump, and this bid is merely an attempt to better it, and is quite happy to get any sponsorship.

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Looks like a case of no appreciation of gravity. I also wouldn't want to tow that trailer with a negative tongue weight..............

That load is an accident just waiting to happen....

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Mike Hughes propelled himself 1,875 feet up yesterday. He claims to have slightly injured his back.

I admire his ambition, at least, but he's trying to see the curvature of the earth. According to my sources, you might be able to see it on a clear day with a 60 degree view from 35,000 feet. So he's 5% of the way there. He could probably hire a private jet for less than he's spending now. But at least it keeps him busy.

Mike Hughes propelled himself 1,875 feet up yesterday. He claims to have slightly injured his back.

I admire his ambition, at least, but he's trying to see the curvature of the earth. According to my sources, you might be able to see it on a clear day with a 60 degree view from 35,000 feet. So he's 5% of the way there. He could probably hire a private jet for less than he's spending now. But at least it keeps him busy.

I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a daredevil who wants to spend his golden years doing dangerous and absurd things in rockets and the “Flat Earth” nonsense is nothing more than a fundraising gimmick.

The best part for him is no matter what he does or does not achieve, the flat earth loons backing him will bend over backwards to make excuses painting him as successful.

__________________Look what I found! There's this whole web site full of skeptics that spun off from the James Randy Education Foundation!

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